Four Women Appointed to Endowed Faculty Positions at Colleges and Universities

Betty S. Lai, a member of the faculty in the department of counseling, developmental, and educational psychology in the Lynch School of Education at Boston College was named the second Buehler Family Sesquicentennial Assistant Professor. Dr. Lai joined the faculty at Boston College in 2018 after five years as an assistant professor at Georgia State University’s School of Public Health. Dr. Lai is a graduate of Columbia University. She earned a Ph.D. in clinical psychology from the University of Miami in Florida.

Elsa Reichmanis was appointed to the Carl R. Anderson Endowed Chair in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. She will begin to teach at Lehigh in the fall of 2020. Currently, Dr. Reichmanis is the Pete Silas Chaired Professor in the School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology. Professor  Reichmanis is a groundbreaking researcher and pioneer in the world of microlithography. She is the former president of the American Chemical Society. A native of Melbourne, Australia, Professor Reichmanis holds a bachelor’s degree in chemistry and a Ph.D. in organic chemistry from Syracuse University.

Nicole Mitchell now holds the William S. Dietrich II Endowed Chair in Jazz Studies at the University of Pittsburgh. Prior to joining the University of Pittsburgh faculty in July, she was a professor of music at the University of California, Irvine. There, Professor Mitchell was also vice chair of the University’s Council on Climate, Culture, and Inclusion. Mitchell is best known for her work as a flutist. She is the founder of Black Earth Ensemble, a multi-generational and gender-balanced group that celebrated its 20th anniversary in 2018. Professor Mitchell earned a master’s degree in music from Northern Illinois University.

Kirsten Davison, an expert on family-centered interventions for obesity prevention, has been named the Donahue and DiFelice Professor at the Boston College School of Social Work. Dr. Davison also serves as associate dean for research at the School of Social Work. Earlier in her career, Dr. Davison spent eight years at the Harvard School of Public Health, where she was an associate professor and director of the school’s Public Health Nutrition doctoral program. A native of New Zealand, Dr. Davison is a graduate of the University of Otago in Dunedin, New Zealand. She earned a Ph.D. in human development and family studies at Pennsylvania State University.